Apparently, a mate's colleague has spent a few thousand on a full suspension bike because he has "outskilled his hardtail". I couldn't find any reference to this term in mountain bike literature, can anyone help me understand?
can anyone help me understand?
Mate has pretentions of being the best rider in the world?
Oh joy... another thread of "i can ride this and that on a hardtail, no-one needs a full suspension"
Excellent term, I’m using that one!
If there's 'outskilled', what's the opposite?
I'm that.
I think your friend has reached his ability limit on a hard tail and is in need of a few inches of squishy talent compensation.
I outskilled* my hardtail, so got a a full suss instead...
DrP
*by outskilled, I assume you mean 'ran out of money and space in the garage, so sold it to buy a FS'??
I thought it sounded like he was getting someone better to ride it down the hard bits.
I would say it means that his skills have progressed to a level where he is going faster and can handle more technical terrain and the hardtail is holding him back from further progression (getting faster and tackling even more technical terrain)
Still sounds like a nonsense phrase though and doesn't really make sense.
I would say it means that his skills have progressed to a level where he is going faster and can handle more technical terrain and the hardtail is holding him back from further progression (getting faster and tackling even more technical terrain)
Even when you write it with as much spin as that it still sounds like.... "The big boys were going faster than I can "
I frequently find the opposite happening and being outskilled by my bike. On a fairly frequent basis my very limited talent evaporates and I find myself in a ditch/hedge/stream/tree (delete as appropriate).
If there’s ‘outskilled’, what’s the opposite?
"Overbiked "
I'm definitely that.
“Overbiked ”
More "underridered"
Under derided - as in no one takes the piss enough?
I think it's a euphemism for his current riding group is holding him back and he wants to move on to new company.
another thread of “i can ride this and that on a hardtail, no-one needs a full suspension
Not really. It just made me laugh that someone might outskill a hardtail, which is arguably harder to ride than a full suss.
∆∆This∆∆
It just made me laugh that someone might outskill a hardtail, which is arguably harder to ride than a full suss.
Nothing arguable about it. Hardtails are harder to ride. It one of the reasons I prefer a hardtail for simpler trails, stuff you could just float over on a full sus needs a bit more thought on a hardtail
"Pretentious, Moi"?
Sounds like someone has a case of newbikeitis and is trying to justify it.
Nothing wrong with going from HT to FS in the pursuit of more speed/gnar/send.
Lol. Bikes are different. I had a fab ride on the hardtail last night on some tight rooty nadgery singletrack. The fs is definitely a hindrance in this stuff as it’s longer heavier and doesn’t pedal as well. Another day I might ride somewhere different like say antur stiniog where the fs is better suited.
I think in this instance “outskilled” means I’ve got brave enough to ride stuff where if you go fast enough a fs is more suitable than a ht. it’s nearly always bravery rather than actual skill on a modern bike.
Just to be sure we're all making the correct judgement about your mate's mate, the hardtail isn't an Apollo BSO* he's replacing with a proper bike that happens to be a FS? I can understand that he might have "out skilled" that.
*other brands are available, and to read half the threads on here you'd think if it doesn't have a 170mm dropper and <66degree head angle its wholly unsafe for riding along anything as techy as a well surfaced canal tow path.
🤣
Very much this.
I often find that my under abundance of talent is outstripped by my rigid single speed.
An entire thread on someone who's said something the wrong way, he's obviously wanted to progress and using a full susser to do it is going to make that easier.
I can ride the same stuff on a sorted hardtail as a FS (but sometimes it'll be slower)
But if you put me on an 'entry-level' hardtail BSO I'd really struggle to get going and I certainly wouldn't be confident over drops etc. Same as if ride my gravel bike on terrain it's not meant for.
Mate's colleague sounds like a tool but that doesn't mean he's necessarily wrong.
An entire thread on someone who’s said something the wrong way
Dunno about wrong. I get what they're meaning, it just made me smile is all. And not in a pretentious "do you even hardtail bro" way, just.... made me smile.
I think all he means is that he feels his riding skills have progressed to the point where it's worth him dropping a few grand on a full suspension bike.
That being said, it sounds really stupid and you should take the piss out of him mercilessly until he puts his new bike on ebay for a quarter of what he paid for it.
Course he hasn't outskilled it but that's not really how it works, so rather than people assuming he's a dick how about just thinking he's using words you don't like, but describing a real thing? Like "My riding has progressed and now I'm at a point where the hardtail isn't working for me". That's not outskilling, it's kind of the opposite but it could feel pretty similar. Just substitute "level of riding" for "skill".
I get out skilled every time I ride with Jimmy.
so rather than people assuming he’s a dick how about just thinking he’s using words you don’t like, but describing a real thing
It's difficult not to assume someone is a bit of wally when they use words like "outskill", I assume the same guy on boards staff, thinks outside the box, sells a lifestyle not a product and is probably an estate agent.
Could be a lovely chap but that doesn't mean he's not a wally.
It could also be a moment of brilliant bellend baiting and he laced the original comment with irony that was wasted on the OPs shredit producing mate who only bothers dropping in to send the sickest of gnar.
Show him this
I’m out skilled by any bike.
Show him this
/blockquote>
Good grief. That "I broke me leg" came out of nowhere!
there can be a very big gap between:
"possible to ride without crashing"
to
"ideal bike for the conditions"
and then on to
"overbiked to the point it is not enjoyable"
My local is the tame lands of swinley, and despite owning a lovely "hardcore hardtail" my full suss trail bike is both more enjoyable and quicker, when I put the effort in to sprint and pump the terrain.
And if we go purely by facial expression observed, I'm having far more fun than the gravel bike/90s rigid bike trail users...
he’s obviously wanted to progress and using a full susser to do it is going to make that easier.
Is it? I'd had thought a bike that makes things harder would make you progress more quickly/easily? A full sus may make you quicker but that's not really progression.
I definitely outskill my bike.
All my bike can do is be ridden up, down and along hills, where as I can ride said bike, tile bathrooms and bake chocolate cakes.
Shurely that's way more skills than my bike has? 🤔🤔
Can it be ridden across, under, off and over things too? If so it appears the bike has one skill more than you! 😀
there can be a very big gap between:
“possible to ride without crashing”
to
“ideal bike for the conditions”
and then on to
“overbiked to the point it is not enjoyable”
Or indeed to underbiked and its not enjoyable.
Theres a certain type of rider that sees hardtails as for noobs and the lower end of intermediate, and FS for more skilled riders. He might just be one of those. FTR he's wrong IMO. I think Docrobster is most likely on the money.
I think what he is trying to say is that he’s ringfenced his unicorn.
My local is the tame lands of swinley, and despite owning a lovely “hardcore hardtail” my full suss trail bike is both more enjoyable and quicker, when I put the effort in to sprint and pump the terrain.
And if we go purely by facial expression observed, I’m having far more fun than the gravel bike/90s rigid bike trail users
Did a full loop of the blue and red today for the first time in ages on my Onza. I normally ride in from the scuba place end and avoid the blue as it's a 35 mile loop as it is.
I'd forgotten how much not fun the pebbles are on a hardtail. Christ it's annoying. Long flat bits so you want to sit down but still want some spine left.
The full suss is way more enjoyable on the flat bits, the Hardtail better on the downs as it feels faster.
This needs to be on a sticker
lolzzzzz I'd buy a few
Rider thinks buying a full suss will help him enjoy riding more
Cycling forum outraged
I love both my Hardtail and F/S, I wouldn’t of wanted to be on the Hardtail yesterday in South Wales, but I’ve done a 19 mile ride to pick up an Amazon delivery from the locker at the garage around the corner, it would of be dull as you like on the Geometron, but was ace on the Bitmap.
https://strava.app.link/vSfkFaHaKgb
Would love to know where OP’s friend’s friend rides.
If I told you...
He's probably just realised hardtails are a bit crap when you're schralping more gnat than you tend to find on your average bridleway or whatever all these hardtail heroes here are riding. FS is just way more fun and the bike feels better when it's balanced and both ends are doing the same thing. Imo. Said currently as a hardtail rider due to budget - can't wait to get back on a FS bike!
This is great. I think i'm now going to say I outskilled the only FS i ever owned ... well, i mean my mechanical skills were clearly too advanced for all those bolts and nonsense under the seat. They wouldn't even stay in the right shape once i'd applied my skills.
Also, that Mavic axle. All those wheels. Clearly outskilled.
So I just bought a hardtail, does that mean i have unskilled my fs or overskilled myself?!
FS is just way more fun and the bike feels better when it’s balanced and both ends are doing the same thing.
Sounds like you need to down skill to a rigid bike. They’re the best for front and back being completely balanced.
“do you even hardtail bro”
^^ Cheers OP ,that needs to be on a T-shirt 🙂
schralping more gnat
I nominate this to go on a t-shirt.
No idea what it means but it sounds dirty.
I think it was the Gus Hedges use of 'outskilled' that made me laugh rather than the fact the fella bought himself a new bike.
It kinda makes sense from the Urban Dictionary definition
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Outskilled
Why is there always some over-sensitive, under-joyed, funsponge oddball on every thread these days saying "ooh you can't take the piss out of people who don't even read the forum!" You mustn't have a laugh about stuff with your virtual fwends... Jeez. I can't cope. Do these people want the forum to be all "What socks for tidying my bedroom in?" threads?
I can kind of see the OPs mate's point, there comes a time when you feel that a bike that's bigger/bouncier/lighter/burlier/has more gears (delete where applicable) will improve your riding.
If you were riding in the 90s remember your first taste of v brakes, or suspension forks, etc.
Then the changes in geometry over the last 10 years. Yowzers! 😆
But....I do own a full sus (tend to save it for bpw trips, etc) but having ridden a hardtail almost exclusively for many years, and for the last 12 months I've mostly ridden a rigid Stooge MK4.
My actual skill level is (imo anyway) much higher because if this. Then when I get on the full sus it feels laughably easy.
So if he wants to buy a skill 'compensator' then more power to his arm, but it won't improve his skill level any.
@ajantom well said, pretty much my "serious" view. Also what DezB said 🙂
For humour - Kayla1.
For likelihood - probably Docrobster.
for the last 12 months I’ve mostly ridden a rigid Stooge MK4.
I’ve recently built up a Dirtbomb. It’s pants shittingly frightening on some stuff but that’s my idea of fun. It compliments my style of riding - get you arse over the rear, hang on to the bars and hope for the best!
Sounds like you need to down skill to a rigid bike. They’re the best for front and back being completely balanced.
I think I do actually prefer rigid (or at least very short travel forks which are set up quite hard) to hardtail depending on the trail. I have to set up my forks quite hard to get the HT to feel a bit more normal and less "divey" - but then they are really too long for a HT. I just haven't got round to reducing the travel or getting new ones since downgrading to the hardtail frame.
Love the term "skill compensator" - should all the highly skilled, top of their game, world cup DH riders be on hardtails or fully rigids then?
Love the term “skill compensator” – should all the highly skilled, top of their game, world cup DH riders be on hardtails or fully rigids then?
I think you know exactly what I mean 😘
I'm not suggesting in any way that the highly skilled riders of DH and the Enduro World cups should ride hardtails, but if they did they'd still be considerably faster than you or I on any full-sus wonder machine we cared to choose.
My point is that Dave from down the pub may want to buy a full-sus, and I'm sure he'll love it, but I'm also 100% sure he hasn't reached the limits of his hardtail yet.
Conversely I really enjoy the challenge that comes when switching back to a hardtail from my full susser. Yep, it’s all a bit sketchy (and fun) at first, but I soon get to the point where there aren’t any of my FS lines I won’t ride on the hardtail. When I jump back on the FS I’m faster, smoother, and more adventurous in the lines I’ll tackle.
All said and done though, if I had to go down to one bike it’d be the fully that I’d keep. For those days when you wanna get out and ride but you’re not feeling like giving it full-send everywhere it’s a massive skill-compensator, and let’s me hit stuff in a manner that would have me picking bracken out of my helmet if I was as blasé on the hardtail.
jimmy’s mate’s colleague may have come out with a bullshit justification for a new bike but it’s totally shaded by the bullshit spouted in this thread 🤣